Key highlights:
- A 420% surge puts Moore Threads at the center of China’s chip ambitions.
- The IPO success raises new questions about Nvidia’s dominance.
- Massive demand reveals how strongly China backs local chipmakers.
Chinese chipmaker Moore Threads Technology made a dramatic debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with shares skyrocketing 420% on opening day. The surge instantly turned founder Zhang Jianzhong into a billionaire and fueled speculation over whether the company could emerge as a serious challenger to Nvidia in China’s rapidly expanding AI chip market.
The 59-year-old chairman and CEO now holds an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion, according to Forbes. At the end of November, Moore Threads raised 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) by selling 70 million shares at 114.28 yuan each, making it one of China’s most anticipated IPOs of the year.
Moore Threads surged in its Shanghai trading debut after raising $1.13 billion in the year’s second-largest onshore IPO.
The leading Chinese AI chipmaker wants to be the next Nvidia. Others have said the same before. Annabelle Droulers reports what makes Moore Threads different.… pic.twitter.com/K8U4Zmt0Ja
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) December 5, 2025
A market debut that surpassed all expectations
The retail portion of the offering was oversubscribed an astonishing 2,750 times, even after a redistribution mechanism that shifted additional shares to individual investors. With a market capitalization of 276 billion yuan, the company plans to channel its new capital into hiring and research to accelerate development.
Moore Threads’ MTT S400 GPUs. Source: SCMP
Moore Threads already attracted major backers before going public, including HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia China) and investment units of ByteDance and Tencent. In 2023, the company was placed on the U.S. “entity list,” restricting access to advanced American chipmaking technologies.
China’s push for chip independence fuels momentum
The company’s momentum reflects China’s broader push for technological self-reliance amid U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors.
According to Kenny Ng, an equity strategist at Everbright Securities International in Hong Kong, local optimism around Chinese chipmakers continues to strengthen.
Cambricon Technologies, for example, has also seen a boost, and its CEO Chen Tianshi is now China’s 11th-richest person with a net worth of $23.4 billion.
From GPUs to AI software, Moore Threads expands fast
Moore Threads develops products ranging from graphics processing units (GPUs) to software that supports AI training. China’s domestic GPU market is forecast to expand from 142.5 billion yuan in 2024 to an estimated 1.3 trillion yuan by 2029, according to Sinolink Securities.
Analysts believe the company could become a “significant force” in reducing dependence on overseas AI chip suppliers such as Nvidia. Here, it’s worth noting that Nvidia has also been facing some pressure domestically, as Google has seen substantial gains in its TPU business.
In the first nine months of the year, Moore Threads’ revenue surged 182% year-on-year to 784.6 million yuan. Its net loss narrowed to 723.5 million yuan, improving by 18.7% compared with the same period in 2023.
Zhang’s background adds to investor confidence. He spent 14 years leading Nvidia’s China division before founding Moore Threads in 2020. He previously held senior roles at Dell and HP in China. His wife, Liu Shanshan, served as a director in the company’s early stages before stepping down in 2023.
Moore Threads’ remarkable debut underscores the confidence Chinese investors have in domestic chipmakers. Although the company remains unprofitable, its rapid growth and shrinking losses suggest it is moving in a promising direction, especially as China accelerates efforts toward technological independence.
Source:: Nvidia’s Chinese Rival Moore Threads Turns Its Founder Into a Billionaire After 420% Stock Surge